IRONMAN World Championship

IRONMAN History: 1990s - Present

1992 – Queen of Kona
Paula Newby-Fraser wins her 5th title in Kona and breaks her own course record, becoming the first woman ever to finish in less than nine hours.

1995 – The Rivalry Continues
American Mark Allen celebrates his 6th IRONMAN World Championship victory, tying Dave Scott for the World Record.

1996 – Long Live the Queen
Paula Newby-Fraser wins her 8th IRONMAN World Championship race. This still stands today as the World Record for victories on the Big Island.

1997 – Proving "Anything is Possible"With the debut of the Physically Challenged Division, Australian John MacLean becomes the first athlete to power a hand cycle bike and wheelchair to an official IRONMAN World Championship finish.

1998 – IRONMAN Turns 20The IRONMAN World Championship celebrates its 20th anniversary and founder, John Collins competes in the race after a 19-year hiatus.

2001
Just three weeks after the tragic events of September 11th, American Tim DeBoom brings the Kona crown back to the United States for the first time since 1995, amidst the powerful "USA" chant from the crowd.

2004 – IRONMAN Continues to Grow
More than 1,700 athletes make their way to the IRONMAN World Championship starting line. Over 50,000 competitors have raced other IRONMAN qualifying events in hopes of going up against the best of the best in Kona.

2005 – Giving the Queen a Run for her Money
Switzerland’s Natascha Badmann earns her 6th win in Kona, placing her only two victories behind IRONMAN legend, Paula Newby-Fraser who holds the record with 8 titles.

2007 – Introducing Chrissie Wellington
Chrissie Wellington becomes the first British triathlete to win the crown at the IRONMAN World Championship.

2010 – IRON WAR II
Australian Chris McCormack and Germany’s Andreas Raelert battle it out in Kona for the last few miles, following in the iconic footsteps of IRONMAN greats, Mark Allen and Dave Scott who famously went head to head in 1989.

2011 – Alexander the Great
Australian triathlete Craig Alexander wins the title at the IRONMAN World Championship 70.3 and goes on to also celebrate his third victory at the IRONMAN World Championship. He is the only professional triathlete in history to win both races in the same year. As if that’s not enough, Alexander also breaks the course record and becomes the oldest male to wear the crown.